Looking for a dedicated pro who always has your back? Meet our founder Paula!

Founder & CEO  | Alaska

Specialty: Certified Gallup Strengths Coach

Introducing Paula, the visionary force behind PeopleAK! As the founder and owner, Paula is a 4th generation Alaskan with over 20 years of high-level management experience across diverse sectors.

With a degree in Small Business Administration from the University of Alaska, Paula’s expertise includes training seminars, operational and financial assessments, board development, and strategic business planning. She’s the go-to for businesses seeking sustainable growth. Her recruitment skills are legendary, combining cutting-edge techniques with practical business consulting and a deep commitment to Alaskan development.

Paula is a certified Gallup Strengths Coach. Her strengths—Activator, Restorative, Relator, Futuristic, and Connectedness—are the pillars of her success. As an Activator, she ignites action and drives progress. Her Restorative skill makes her a master problem-solver. With her Relator strength, Paula fosters authentic connections. Her Futuristic vision fuels innovation, and her Connectedness instills unity and purpose.

In Paula, PeopleAK finds not just a leader, but a trailblazer shaping the future of talent recruitment and business consultancy in Alaska and beyond.

EXECUTIVE Consultant

Specialty: People & Teams, Certified Gallup Strengths Coach

Meet Brooke, the dynamic force at PeopleAK! Her superpower is putting the right talent in front of the right people. With a background in HR and coaching, she’s a pro at unlocking potential.

Brook is a certified Gallup Strengths Coach. Her Gallup strengths—Achiever, Analytical, Relator, Focus, and Restorative—fuel her success.

Driven by her Achiever strength, Brooke always aims for excellence, whether for herself or guiding others. Her Analytical mind ensures every decision is strategic and well-informed, while her Relator nature fosters strong connections with colleagues and clients.

With unwavering Focus, Brooke tackles challenges head-on, while her Restorative talent makes her a problem-solving expert. Beyond work, her passion for fitness and wellness shines through, reflecting her commitment to personal and professional growth.

As a certified Gallup Strengths Coach, Brooke’s infectious enthusiasm and upbeat personality make her an invaluable asset to the PeopleAK team, empowering individuals and organizations to thrive.

EXECUTIVE Consultant

Specialty: Total Rewards

Thomas is a seasoned HR leader with a track record of guiding some of Alaska’s most recognized organizations through complex people and performance challenges. He brings deep expertise in competitive employment strategies and operational excellence, with a focus on interim leadership, employer recruitment branding, total rewards, process optimization, employee engagement, and change management.

Known for his strategic mindset and practical approach, Thomas helps organizations align talent with business goals, drive cultural transformation, and enhance workforce value. He is a Certified Compensation Professional (CCP), a SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP), and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Oregon.

Affiliate Consultant

Specialty: Communications & Curriculum

Meet Liz, one of PeopleAK’s dynamic Project Consultants who brings clarity, creativity, and connection to every engagement. With a background in communications and grant strategy, Liz specializes in helping organizations turn complex ideas into actionable plans that drive meaningful impact.

Having worked on both sides of the grant process, Liz combines the precision of a grant manager with the creativity of a storyteller. She’s crafted successful proposals, managed federal awards, and developed training programs that strengthen leadership, communication, and collaboration within teams.

Known for simplifying systems and sparking innovation, Liz has helped communities and organizations across Alaska secure and manage millions in funding, empowering them to grow, lead, and thrive.

Affiliate Consultant

Specialty: Healthcare Operations & Sustainability

Kearin and Paula go way back. Early in their careers, they ran a medical office together, the largest women’s health clinic in Alaska, growing it from 7 providers to 17 and bringing in its first electronic medical records. So when the rest of the team says Kearin speaks fluent Paula, they mean it.

Since then she’s spent 20 years getting big, complicated projects across the finish line for health systems, academic medical centers and specialty hospitals, from 200-provider groups to networks of 8,000. Large-scale EMR rollouts, information security, operations overhauls, and lean strategy that makes sense to the people doing the work. Most recently, she led the Physician Enterprise advisory practice at Premier Inc., where she tripled the team and kept every client willing to vouch for the work. She holds a master’s from the University of Alaska Anchorage and is a Certified Medical Practice Executive.

At PeopleAK, Kearin is the subject matter expert on medical and operations projects, bringing her own firm to collaborative work with our team. Her rule for change: the people it affects help design it, so it sticks.

Affiliate Consultant

Specialty: Compliance & Strategy

Kelly has run big, complicated things. As Alaska’s Commissioner of Administration, she led a 1,200-person department with a $373 million budget and kept the state’s operations running through COVID-19. Before that, 20 years in federal and state executive leadership, including the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. She’s a Harvard Law graduate and a John Maxwell Certified Coach and Trainer.

At PeopleAK, Kelly works with leaders whose organizations have outgrown the way they’re run. She builds the operating structure, compliance footing, and leadership habits that let you grow without losing your grip. Her coaching work takes leaders from managing crises to building what’s next.

Kelly lives in Anchorage, where she’s raising three kids and bringing the same “get to yes” energy home that she brings to clients.

Consultant | Project Manager

Specialty: Projects & Measurement

Alec plans the work and then makes sure it actually happens. He spent five years as a U.S. Army officer at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, leading teams of up to 30, moving 400 people and 150 pieces of equipment for a major training exercise, and building the unit’s leadership training program from scratch. He still serves as a civil affairs officer in the Army Reserve, where the job is getting the military, government agencies and nonprofits to work together.

Since 2022 he’s been an IT systems engineer at Sentry Computing in Anchorage, solving technology problems for more than 40 companies a day and writing the documentation so the fix sticks. He holds a master’s in project management from the University of Alaska Anchorage, where his capstone team deployed an AI agent for the Applied Environmental Research Center that went on to win State of Alaska funding. He’s a certified Project Management Professional and a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, and has two bachelor’s degrees from Seattle University.

At PeopleAK, Alec is the project manager on consulting engagements; the schedule, the handoffs and the follow-through, so clients see progress and not just plans.

Executive Talent Sniffer and resident morale booster. Expert in engagement, wellness, and tail-wagging motivation | Alaska

Meet Louie, the official office wag and morale booster at PeopleAK! This lovable Shih Tzu-Maltese mix is a lifelong Alaskan who is always eager to lend a paw to the team. Louie takes his job very seriously, even helping out on paydays by greeting our contract labor force and picking up checks with a quick pet and a listening ear. His top strength is Cuteness (obviously).

In his free time, Louie is a serious athlete training for the Iditarod! That’s right, this little guy is working hard to be a part of the annual dog sled race that runs between Anchorage and Nome, Alaska. We may not have the heart to break it to him that his size might make him better suited for shorter sprints.

Louie is an integral part of the PeopleAK wellness and engagement strategy, often found curled up on a staff member’s lap or taking a lap outside to stretch his little legs. His playful energy and love for belly rubs make him an instant favorite with everyone who meets him. Louie is more than just a dog; he’s a cherished member of the PeopleAK family!